Germany Wins Nations’ Cup

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011 by Nadia

The IFP’s (International Federation of Poker) tournament weekend has proven to be a great success. They have crowned the first duplicate poker tournament champion and now their second event, ‘The Table’ has begun.

Qualifying Rounds of the Nations’ Cup

Twelve countries participated in the first ever Nations’ Cup event. The game played was duplicate poker. In this, the decks were preset and players won points based on how well they played their hands against opponents who were seated at the other tables. To add to a twist to the tournament, each table was situated in a car on the London Eye. The tables were separated in order to maintain an element of mystery.

As expected with any new event, there were some difficulties. The IFP found the scoring of hands to be a difficult task. They decided to ignore the original format – of eliminating the nations which performed poorly. Instead, they permitted all the countries to return to the tables and participate. According to Anthony Holden, the IFP President, it was not a difficult decision as the previous day showed them how enthusiastic the players are about duplicate poker and how much they want to represent their countries.

Due to this decision, all 12 countries returned for the second day of play which was held at the County Hall in London. The countries were divided into two groups. Group A included Germany, Spain, Ireland, United States, Zynga and Denmark. Group B consisted of France, Japan, Australia, Brazil, United Kingdom and Holland. The two groups participated in 36 hands. After the round concluded, three teams within each group moved forward to the final round. In this, 72 hands will determine who would take home title and cash prize.

The Final Round of the Nations’ Cup

The three teams that advanced from Group A were Germany, Zynga and Spain. Zynga surprised the competition by holding the lead during most of the first round of play. Group B moved France, Brazil and Holland forward to the finals. The UK and U.S teams were eliminated and placed at 5th and 6th in their groups, respectively.

Team Germany came out on top after the points were tabulated. Stephan Kalhamer was the captain of the German team. Two other members of the team were Sandra Naujoks and Sebastian Ruthenberg. The team accumulated 24 points and won the title by a narrow margin. Both France and Brazil scored 22 points and were tied for second place. The tiebreaker, which was based on chip count, ensured that Brazil took home the silver medal.

Zynga’s team, comprising of amateur players, showed that they were more than ready for professional poker by finishing at 4th place. The Spanish and Dutch teams tied for fifth place. But the chip count led to Holland being declared the winner of fifth place.

IFP’s ‘The Table’ Tournament

In addition to the Nations’ Cup, the IFP held a tournament called ‘The Table’. 135 players were invited to compete in a 2 day tournament that boasted of a prize pool worth $500,000. Many of the Nations’ Cup participants played in the tournament. They were joined by new players like Tom McEvoy (former WSOP winner) and Pius Heinz (WSOP winner 2011), Humberto Brenes and John Duthie.